Finished…..Hooray!

Posted in "To Everything There is a Season", Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

The last piece has been prepped and now the last stitch has been taken! I am so thrilled to say I am finished this quilt. I won’t be shy….I think this is a beautiful quilt. It was designed by Marilyn at MTDesigns, an amazing artist who can take my fuzzy, vague ideas and put them into amazing drawings, which I can then applique. Thanks, Marilyn!!

So, here is the Winter Border.

And, the Fall Border.

And here is the finished quilt. (Happy dance!!)

The patterns for the blocks and the Centre Wreath are available on my new website. The borders are not on the website yet, but they soon will be! The patterns for each block are sold individually, so if you do not want to make the entire quilt, you can make a wallhanging (or two!) or some pillows. The choice is yours!

Til next time….

Kerry

24Apr2015

Adding Borders…and a New Website!!

Posted in Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

I am happy to announce that my new (and improved!) website is now up and running. We still have to add some more products and the free patterns (Peggy’s Puzzle and Circle of Tulips). Thank you for your patience. I wish time would stand still, just until I catch my breath!

In the meantime, I have been busy stitching the borders on “To Everything There Is A Season” a BOM I launched last April. I am so close to being finished I can hardly believe it!

After some consideration, I decided to miter the corners of the light blue border and then applique the dark blue curvy piece on to it.

I made a freezer paper template of the long blue sections and prepped them in the usual way.

Instead of cutting 4 very long pieces of dark blue fabric for these borders, I cut 8 shorter ones and pieced them together. I placed the join right in the middle, where no one will notice it!

Next, I prepped the pieces with my “big girl” iron.

Once I removed the template I stitched the pieces onto the light blue borders.

Voila!! Well, I would like to say the quilt is now complete, but no…there is still more applique!

The corners each have a spray of seasonal flowers. I decided to start with the spring corner. I used an applique pressing sheet to “build” my flowers on it. This is a great way to construct flowers (or any other shape) with many pieces.

Simply lift the flower off the pressing sheet and place it on the background and stitch away!

And here is the Spring Border!

And the Summer Border! (Yes, I have been busy!!)

And a sneak peek of the Winter Border. Yes. Really busy!

Til next time…

Kerry

10Apr2015

Stippling and other fun stuff!

Posted in Bed of Roses, Bed of Roses Quilt Along, Friends of Baltimore, Hand-Applique Techniques, Hand-Quilting Techniques, Sue Garman Pattern, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

I really wish I had more to show! I have been working away on my hexie quilt and loving every moment of it. The top left corner is almost complete, then I will continue the dark brown border and then…well who knows? This quilt seems to be designing itself! My only goal was to use up all 5 meters of the beige background, which I have had in my stash for 8 years…8 years! Seriously, it’s time to let go!!

I have finished all of the background stippling on the eagle block of my “Friends of Baltimore”. Turns out stippling is very relaxing, soothing and almost hypnotic. Time stands still when I work on this block. Still not sure what I am going to do with those triangles…..

Because the background is so heavily quilted, everything pops out, like the flowers and leaves, which I love because it almost looks dimensional! The eagle is a little baggy and needs some quilting. So, this is the “before” picture and in my next post you will see the “after” picture.

Life is short and we are not supposed to sweat the “small stuff”. So, I am not going to worry about the cat hair anymore. I just purchased a bulk package of lint rollers and I am making really good use of them!

My new and improved website is still under construction and hopefully will be ready to launch the end of next week. You have probably figured out by now that I am a huge fan of Sue Garman and her wonderful applique patterns. So, I will be selling some of her patterns on my website. And, I will be doing one of her patterns, Bed of Roses, as a Quilt-Along, complete with fabric kits! Last night I prewashed the fabrics so I could get started on the first block. So exciting!

Til next time….

Kerry

1Apr2015

Slow progress, but still progress!

Posted in Friends of Baltimore, Hand-Piecing, Hand-Quilting Tools, Hexagons, Uncategorized by Simple Bird Applique

The definition of “progress” is: the development, advancement, or improvement, as toward a goal. If that is the case, then I guess I am making progress on my next journey…handquilting Sue Garman’s “Friends of Baltimore”. I am echo quilting and I must say, I love how it looks. Although, I also must say that I start hyper-ventilating every time I start to think about how long this is going to take! I am not doing any marking on the background, just eye-balling it. On some of the blocks, which have a bit more space, I will add some motifs, maybe some feathers, my initials and the date. Who knows?

Thanks goodness I have someone to keep me company. That just makes the time go so much quicker! I started out using a hoop, but I am experimenting with quilting without a hoop and it seems to be working….for now. I will keep you posted on the slow, but steady, progress!

Last night I finished stitching the top half of my hexie quilt, because what kind of quilter would I be if I didn’t have more that a few intense projects on the go? Every time I sit and stitch these hexies, I am amazed at how quickly they are going together. And how easily! I am using Inklingo to print my shapes. I have already started printing the next set of shapes for my next hand-piecing project, but I have vowed (definition of vow: to promise solemnly; pledge) to myself that I will only have one hand-piecing project on the go at any given time!!